[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H9198-H9199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROHIBITION ON DISRUPTIONS OF FUNERALS OF MEMBERS OR FORMER MEMBERS OF 
                            THE ARMED FORCES

  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 4042) to amend title 18, United States Code, to 
prohibit disruptions of funerals of members or former members of the 
Armed Services.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 4042

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. RESPECT FOR THE FUNERALS OF FALLEN HEROES.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 67 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     section:

     ``Sec. 1388. Prohibition on disruptions of funerals of 
       members or former members of the Armed Forces

       ``(a) Prohibition.--For any funeral of a member or former 
     member of the Armed Forces that is not located at a cemetery 
     under the control of the National Cemetery Administration or 
     part of Arlington National Cemetery, it shall be unlawful for 
     any person to engage in an activity during the period 
     beginning 60 minutes before and ending 60 minutes after such 
     funeral, any part of which activity--
       ``(1)(A) takes place within the boundaries of the location 
     of such funeral or takes place within 150 feet of the point 
     of the intersection between--
       ``(i) the boundary of the location of such funeral; and
       ``(ii) a road, pathway, or other route of ingress to or 
     egress from the location of such funeral; and
       ``(B) includes any individual willfully making or assisting 
     in the making of any noise or diversion that is not part of 
     such funeral and that disturbs or tends to disturb the peace 
     or good order of such funeral with the intent of disturbing 
     the peace or good order of that funeral; or
       ``(2)(A) is within 300 feet of the boundary of the location 
     of such funeral; and
       ``(B) includes any individual willfully and without proper 
     authorization impeding the access to or egress from such 
     location with the intent to impede the access to or egress 
     from such location.
       ``(b) Penalty.--Any person who violates subsection (a) 
     shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 
     1 year, or both.
       ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) The term `Armed Forces' has the meaning given the 
     term in section 101 of title 10.
       ``(2) The term `funeral of a member or former member of the 
     Armed Forces' means any ceremony or memorial service held in 
     connection with the burial or cremation of a member or former 
     member of the Armed Forces.
       ``(3) The term `boundary of the location', with respect to 
     a funeral of a member or former member of the Armed Forces, 
     means--
       ``(A) in the case of a funeral of a member or former member 
     of the Armed Forces that is held at a cemetery, the property 
     line of the cemetery;
       ``(B) in the case of a funeral of a member or former member 
     of the Armed Forces that is held at a mortuary, the property 
     line of the mortuary;
       ``(C) in the case of a funeral of a member or former member 
     of the Armed Forces that is held at a house of worship, the 
     property line of the house of worship; and
       ``(D) in the case of a funeral of a member or former member 
     of the Armed Forces that is held at any other kind of 
     location, the reasonable property line of that location.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of chapter 67 of such title is amended by inserting 
     after the item related to section 1387 the following new 
     item:

``1388. Prohibition on disruptions of funerals of members or former 
              members of the Armed Forces.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Cannon) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials on S. 4042, currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Utah?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Senate 4042, which expands existing 
law prohibiting certain demonstrations at military funerals.
  The men and women of our Armed Forces risk their lives every day to 
preserve America's freedom. Military funerals honor our veterans and 
those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Funerals 
are solemn occasions for family and loved ones to grieve their loss. 
Military funerals are important ceremonies for Americans to show their 
respect and gratitude for our fallen heroes.
  Yet, these dignified, peaceful ceremonies are being disrupted by 
political demonstrations. In the last year, a fringe religious group 
known as Westboro Baptist Church has disrupted more than 100 military 
funerals across the country, claiming that the deaths of U.S. soldiers 
in Iraq and Afghanistan are God's punishment for America's tolerance of 
gays and lesbians. Over the past 15 years, Westboro Baptist Church has 
staged over 22,000 demonstrations nationwide.
  Mr. Speaker, as Congress considers this legislation today, the 
Westboro Baptist Church is again staging protests to disrupt the 
funerals of Lance Corporal Michael A. Schwarz in New Jersey and Lance 
Corporal James R. Davenport in South Carolina.

                              {time}  0015

  On behalf of the American people, I want to extend my sincere 
apologies to

[[Page H9199]]

the families of these soldiers, and to reassure our military 
servicemembers and their families that such demeaning and disgusting 
displays will never occur again.
  In May, the President signed into law H.R. 5037, the Respect for 
America's Fallen Heroes Act, which prohibits demonstrations at 
Arlington National Cemetery and other cemeteries under the control of 
the National Cemetery Administration.
  Approximately 650,000 funerals are conducted each year for our 
veterans and Active Duty military; however, only 90,000 of these are 
held at the Nation's 121 Federal cemeteries. Many veterans and 
servicemembers are laid to rest at private cemeteries. S. 4042 will 
expand the current law to all military funerals to ensure that all are 
afforded the utmost respect and dignity.
  S. 4042 prohibits any person from intentionally disrupting or 
impeding access to a military funeral. An offense under this section is 
punishable by a fine of up to 1 year in jail. This bill is clearly 
constitutional as its predecessor was under Congress' broad authority 
under Article I, section 7 to raise and support armies. Congress has 
the authority to support America's soldiers by acting to preserve the 
dignity of their funeral ceremonies.
  This bill is modeled after an ordinance upheld by the Supreme Court 
as a constitutional time, place, and manner restriction. The Senate 
passed S. 4042 yesterday by unanimous consent. I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of the Respect for the Funerals of Fallen Heroes 
Act, a bill that would promote respect for the funerals of fallen 
heroes by prohibiting disruptive activities at funerals of deceased 
members of the Armed Forces.
  This bill would build on the respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act 
by providing similar protection for the funerals of all deceased 
members or former members of the Armed Services, not only at Federal 
cemeteries but also at private cemeteries, funeral homes, and houses of 
worship. I think that we have found that this bill is consistent with 
constitutional considerations, and I urge that the House support this 
suspension.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I would yield to the gentleman from Oregon 
as much time as he may consume.
  Mr. WU. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan.
  I was one of the Members of the House of Representatives who was 
originally troubled by the House version of the bill and by the balance 
it struck between respect for the fallen heroes of this Nation and the 
Federal Constitution for which they died. I am pleased to support a 
much improved version of this bill returned from the other Chamber. And 
I thank Mr. Durbin directly for his good work on this bill to remove 
the unfettered discretion of Federal officials and to limit some of the 
proscribed activities to include intent and intent to disturb. I am 
pleased to support this bill in its final form.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Buyer) such time as he may consume.
  Mr. BUYER. Well, it sure hasn't taken very long. Mr. Wu, I guess, 
would oppose a Republican bill but support Mr. Durbin's bill. I would 
invite the gentleman; you know, not long ago you and I got into a 
debate on this floor and what I asked the gentleman to do is to read 
the bill. What I would welcome the gentleman again is to read the bill, 
because the bill that you said you didn't like then, you should like it 
now. Or you like this one now but you didn't like it then?
  What is interesting here is that when we came to this floor, what 
they have done in this bill is they have essentially taken exactly what 
we had done earlier in the year and actually said: Okay, for Federal 
lands, for national cemeteries in Arlington, we already have that bill. 
We are going to put now a section just after it, and the very same 
time, manner, place, content neutral restrictions that have been 
constitutionally upheld are going to be in this bill. I would just ask 
the gentleman to remain consistent.
  Mr. WU. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BUYER. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.
  Mr. WU. In the original House version of the bill, the person in 
control of Federal property was given virtually unfettered discretion 
in determining what activities were acceptable and what activities were 
not.
  I had hoped in the closing hours of this session that we would come 
together in comity to respect both the fallen dead and the 
Constitution, which is certainly my intent.
  Mr. BUYER. I reclaim my time. Your interpretation of unfettered 
discretion is a great attempt at artful words, but that is not what we 
did in that bill.
  What I am most concerned about here, and let's just pause for a 
second. When we came to the floor and we did the Fallen Heroes bill, we 
did this because we wanted to make sure it was narrowly tailored. And 
we said, what is our nexus? Our nexus here is Federal land of exclusive 
jurisdiction. So I remember a conversation about this, and Mr. Conyers, 
and it is very important: Federal land. And so we said, okay, 
Arlington, owned by the United States Army and our national cemeteries. 
This now is about everything else. So the intent here is solid.
  It is unfortunate that we have come to the floor to talk about the 
standards of dignity at a military funeral. We really shouldn't be 
having to do that. That is what is sad about this. And I think we all 
agree that we need to set the standards of dignity. We are talking 
about now setting a misdemeanor with regard to, we are going to set the 
content out there with regard to all of these funerals; and my only 
concern here is, is I do not want this stricken down as overbreadth 
under the doctrine that the Supreme Court to do that, and I am hopeful 
that doesn't happen. And I will yield to the scholars of the Judiciary 
Committee here. But I just want to let you know when we came to the 
floor and did this before, we did this for it to be narrowly tailored, 
and hopefully the Supreme Court doesn't strike it down. But I just 
wanted to speak and say why we did it one way not months ago, and now 
obviously we are doing it a little bit differently.
  Mr. CONYERS. I wanted to thank the gentleman for yielding, and recall 
that he was a distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee himself 
for a considerable period of time. We will keep in mind the 
conversations that we have had here tonight in the closing hours.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to make a couple comments. 
I thank Mr. Conyers for his very gracious response, and want to point 
out that Mr. Buyer was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and himself 
is a scholar on these issues, and obviously emotional and concerned as 
he has been an active member of the military and continues, I believe, 
in the Reserve. And so I want to thank him for his comments and 
recognize the intensity of his feelings.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon) that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 4042.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds of those voting having 
responded in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the Senate 
bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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